The Prince of Magic
by withoutWIFI
Summary: Merlin is no peasant boy, he is a Prince. When Uther and his father, who have been at war for years, decide to end the war with a duel to the death, Uther dies, and Arthur Pendragon becomes the man servant of the strangest Prince in all the land. Things couldn't be worse... Except for the fact his master hates him, and people still want to kill him.


THE DRAGON'S CALL

Prince Arthur of Camelot looked to the sky, awaiting his father's battle cry. The night was bright with the blazing fires of their enemies. The battle was only moments away, and Arthur could feel a sense of undeniable dread washing over him...

Their enemy was the one which his father had tried for twenty whole years to squash... It was an enemy the likes of which would desolate this army. Arthur knew that their defeat was too come only moments after that battle had begun.

The enemy was magic.

But then King Balinor stepped forward, a young boy trailing gracefully behind.

"Uther!" the enemy king called out, "I have brought my army of warriors and sorcerers, but I am a man of reason. I am willing to strike a deal, so that your men may live and blood lay unshead. Speak with me now if you will listen!"

Arthur's father gravely stroud forward to met the man, "I will listen, but that does not mean that a deal has been struck."

"Only one need die Uther. Let you and I duel with nothing more than mortal blades. No magic, no war... Just our swords. Does this sound fit, a fight to the death? Winner takes all. The losers kingdom, their fields, their subjects."

"I except, however only if the blades are borrowed from my men, I don't trust that your swords are disenchanted."

"So be it. Let our people's final battle begin."

Arthur turned and grabbed two blades from the knights next to him, before bringing them to his father, after which he murmured, "Fight well father, Camelot will still need you, when this is all over..."

"Do not worry my son, I will rid this land of the evils of magic with this final battle. Now go stand with our knights. This will be over soon."

An odd look passed over the face of Uther's opponent, before the words, "And of our sons... What happens to the son of the loser? If I lose, I offer him as the man servant to your son. What of yours shall you ask?"

"The same, now let the battle begin."

Arthur and the knights of Camelot cheered on his father, who at the start showed great promise to be the victor, but as the battle drew on his opponent began to make a come back. So much in fact that he was able to knock Uther to the ground.

"I will give you just this one last chance to surrender to me, and if you don't except I will be forced to kill you before your own son. Uther Pendragon what say you? Shall he give up for once?" The man said, as the tip of his sword lay atop the throat of Camelot's king.

"Never, I would sooner die!"

"Then die you will." and with that came the death of Uther Pendragon king of Camelot...

Silence filled the battlefield, as the news of what this meant dawned clear in all of their minds... 'I'm not only now the man servant of a magic user, but I am now an orphan... My father is dead...' Arthur found himself thinking, as his knights rushed forward, on some unheard command in an attempt to avenge their dead king's death.

The young boy who had followed the victorious king from the crowd raised his hands suddenly in the air and screamed out a myriad of mysterious words causing a flaming wall the rise up and engulf those who had made an attempt upon Balinor's life. Any that had managed to escape the fire backed away and quietly submitted. After which Arthur stepped forward.

"I will honor my father's agreement to your king." the blond Prince said to the boy, "Now where is your prince, so that I may begin my service?"

"I have a name you dolt." the raven haired boy replied with a somber tone, "It's Merlin, and I'm sorry about your father. It would have been better if they agreed on something other than death... But if they hadn't then it would have only been a matter of time, before the two would have fought once more... I already know your name, it is Arthur. My father was once friends with your father... He never said why Uther lost his horse about magic..."

Arthur nodded saying, "In any case, what do you require of me?"

"Nothing, I never truly had need of a servant, I am fully capable of fetching my own food in the morning and of dressing myself... Any cleaning I need done I do by magic... I haven't had a servant in years."

"Then why now?" Arthur asked, and Merlin shrugged, "Perhaps my father knew that there was every chance that he would be the one to die, so he offered me as a man servant to insure my protection. Either way my father wishes for Camelot to become our new capital. So grab a horse and lead the way."

Arthur did as he was told, however it was one of his own horses that he grabbed. This was of course the last horse that his father had ever given him...

The journey was a rather quite and uneventful one, seeing as there was no worry of being attacked, plus there was no one stupid enough to attack two army's at the same time. Granted it really was just one big one, considering the victory of Balinor. It wasn't until the were within the walls of Camelot that it occurred to Arthur that he was returning as a man servant. Embarrassment set in the closer to the castle they got.

Imagine his embarrassment, when the Lady Morgana burst forth from within the castle shouting, "Arthur you're back safely!" She paused for a moment, when she saw the men that were only a few meters behind him. "Why are Balinor's men here? You didn't lose, did you?"

"Yes, we did." Arthur sighed, "Uther decided to duel to the death against Balinor and lost. They have decided to make Camelot their new capital. They even want to take upon the name of Camelot for themselves..."

Morgana looked past him towards her new king and shouted, "What is to happen to Arthur and I? We are the only ones left of the royal house of Camelot! Surely we will not be allowed to keep our positions!"

"You Lady Morgana shall become one of my advisers and continue to enjoy the comforts that you are a custom to. I know very well of how Uther trusted your judgement on many different matters." Balinor stated, as he and his men began to dismount their horses.

"And what of Arthur?"

Arthur's face flushed in embarrassment, as he mumbled out the words, "I am to be the man servant to Prince Merlin... It was the fate that they agreed on for the son of the one that would parish." Morgana gave a look of utter shock, surely she must have thought because of his superior skills in fighting, that he would have been placed as a knight, but now that she knew of the deal that had been made, it was as s no surprise that she look so.

"Arthur, Aster is tiers from our journey, take her to the stables, and met me outside the throne room, I'll need you to show me where my room shall be. Also, I do not expect you to give up your room, just in case you were wondering." And with that the blond prince's master followed King Balinor inside.

Arthur didn't want to be looked at by Morgana's expression of disbelief any longer than he had to, so he went off to find Merlin's horse Aster. He didn't understand why it had turned out that the Prince only had one horse, since everyone else didn't seem to care which horse it was that they got on, during their journey back to Camelot. Only Merlin seemed to insist on riding the same horse. It would be best for the boy if he had multiple horses seeing as he was a Prince, but no matter that would mean less horses to look after, as Merlin's man servant.

That night during their meal Arthur did his best to serve Merlin well, however he found himself consistently asking Gwen for help. Though Merlin didn't seem to mind that he was receiving the poor service.

After the meal was over, Arthur left the dining hall with the raven haired prince. After which he lead him back to his room, which happened to be right next to his own. Arthur choose to give Merlin that room so it would be less work to serve the Prince.

"Will you be needing any further assistance tonight, Sire?"

Merlin rolled his eyes before saying, "Arthur, though you are my servant, you are still a Prince. There is no need for you to be so formal with me."

Arthur gave a nod, before he left Merlin, to head into his room and go to sleep. However that night he was finding it rather difficult to fall asleep, due to the fact that he was worried about the threat that the old hag had given at the last execution that his father had ordered. A son for a son, that was her promise. Now that his father was dead, there was the change that she would not feel a need to carry it out, but in the event that she did... That was what made him worry.

So when the sound of footsteps were audible outside his door, he decided to do the only thing he could think to do. Investigate. And as it would turn out, the cause of the sound was Merlin.

"What in blazes are you doing up in the middle of the night?" the Prince yawned at the raven haired boy.

Merlin looked at he with an odd look in his eyes and stated, "I heard someone calling my name, and intend to find out who and why. I could ask the same of you though, dople head."

"Some idiot decided to take a little midnight stroll in front of my door. Also, I don't hear this voice, so I don't see why you're chasing imaginary voices in the middle of the night."

"Just because you can't hear something, doesn't mean that others can't hear it." Merlin stated, "Anyways, you should probably come with me, I don't fancy getting lost in this castle."

So Arthur walked with Merlin going deeper and deeper into the lowest most portions of the castle, until they came to a set of stairs leading to the where the beginning of the dungeons was. There were two guards gambling. Merlin's eyes flashed gold, and the two guards suddenly fell asleep. At this point Merlin lead Arthur though a passageway that he had never bothered to go through before.

It was long and dark and eventually, it lead to a flight of stairs that seemed to lead forever downwards, and it was at this point that Merlin turned to his guide and said, "You should of mud stay here and stand guard. I'll let you know what I find, plus I need to be given a warning if someone is coming, so I can make us a cover story. My father would worry if he knew I heard a voice that nobody else seemed to hear."

"But I wanted to go down there to!" Arthur growled, to which Merlin replied, "For a servant you're sure being a whiny prat."

"Hey earlier you said I was still a Prince!" Arthur snapped back on annoyance.

This offed Merlin clearly, seeing as he snapped in return, "Oh, I must have worded that wrong! You sure are being whiny, you royal prat!" Following which he decided the stairs in anger, leaving Arthur standing there. Arthur decided against following in the hopes of avoiding conflict between the two.

So he needed up standing guard for what seemed like ten minutes, before Merlin bolted back up the stairs and strait past him. Arthur was almost certain that Merlin was being chased, so he quickly followed Merlin past the dozing guards and back into one of the main corridors of the castle. Suddenly Merlin spun to look at him, eyes blazing gold with anger, and Arthur was thrown to the wall with the burst of magic.

"You and your people locked up a DRAGON beneath your castle!"

Arthur stopped rubbing the back of his head, where it had hit the wall, "The dragon is real? I thought that was just a rumor!"

Wild fury filled the raven haired boy's eyes, as he growled out, "How could you let someone do this! That poor creature is held prisoner! This is a crime!"

"You can not hold me responsible for the actions of my father. Plus, just because I am your servant, it does not mean I hold the same views as you. For example I still side with my father on the issue of magic. Magic is evil in my views."

"Magic is not evil! Just because some have used it for evil, does not make it evil. Just like a sword! People have used swords for evil, does that make the sword inherently evil! I was born with magic! Does that mean I was born evil!"

Arthur saw the logic, but found himself being stubborn, as he snapped, "People arn't born with magic. You have to study it to have it."

"I have been able to use magic since the day of my birth, so don't you speak of how magic works to me! I am the exception to it! And no one could ever tell me before why I was born this way!" Merlin growled.

"And how has your being born with magic do you anymore good then magic does for someone who had to study it!?"

Merlin got in Arthur's face and snarled, "I don't care if the dragon says I should protect you! You're not worth saving!" Following that the raven haired boy stormed off down the nearest corridor. Arthur was paralyzed with shock. The dragon had told Merlin that he should protect him, the hag was going to try to kill him, and he had angered his master so much that he was going to let him died! In an attempt at selfpreservation Arthur chased after Merlin.

Once he caught up, he found Merlin looking about frantically, having already gotten lost, so Arthur spoke up and said, "I'll show you the way back to your room... Follow me." Merlin did as he was told, and the two parted paths once outside their rooms.

The following day was rather well, even though Arthur could still feel the anger radiating from Merlin. The Lady Helen had arrived that morning to sing at the feast that night, and Arthur had been informed that turning this meal, he was going to be allowed to sit at the royal table with Morgana and Merlin. So Arthur couldn't wait, and that fact was brought to make the blond Prince happy. He also heard that if Merlin wished it, then he would be allowed to participate in some of the duties of the knights. That meant he would at least be returned to a partial of his previous status. However there was the worry of if Merlin would allow it, or save him when the hag attacked...

Finally that night came and his servant George helped him into his dinning clothes. Yes, he still had a servant. He was, as Merlin said, still a Prince by blood. Balinor thought it would be wrong to deny Arthur that luxury. Lady Helen's voice was just as wonderful as it had been the last time she had sang for Camelot, so one can imagine his confusion, when he woke covered in cobwebs and to the sight of the old hag pinned beneath the chandelier.

"Even if Uther is no more, I shall take away his son's life!" came her screech, as she lobbed a dagger towards him. The next thing he knew, he felt Merlin's hands pushing him to the ground. Moments later the raven haired Prince was laying on the ground next to him.

Arthur looked to the chair he had been in only moments before, shocked by the sight of the dagger. Despite what Merlin had told him the night before... The boy had saved his life! He looked into his eyes and instantly knew that he could trust his life to him because he could see in Merlin's eyes that the boy knew he would protect him at all costs, even if he didn't like him much... Their destroys had begun.


End file.
